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Any fielding side which misses six chances in a day deserves harsh criticism. The exception was yesterday.

On a day in which Jamaica kept the hosts at bay on a pluperfect batting strip to reach 243 for seven, Barbados were unable to hold on a handful of agonisingly sharp offerings which came their way.

Four came in the final session, and the only ones which could have been described as straightforward were Floyd Reifer's at slip from a defensive prod and wicket-keeper Courtney Browne's mis-stumping.

Had any of the others been clutched onto, they would have required the likes of a Hershelle Gibbs or a Mark Waugh. They were well wide of the fieldsmen and neither could have been faulted. Barbados manager Tony Howard, however, reckoned too many got away.

"I thought the fielding improved a little over the last match, but just a little. "The chance that Philo (Wallace) tried for was an excellent effort, but on the other hand, we had some very simple dropped catches," he told the Saturday Sun.

"In cricket, it is not the ones that you drop, it is the ones that you take and surely those are the ones you have to take if you are going to make the difference in the game.

"I am not saying that the majority of them should have been taken. I applaud the effort but I would like to have seen them taken."

The Barbados manager was hoping Jamaica could have been limited to a total of under 200 after the defending champions chose to bat first.

"We could have done a lot better," Howard said. "They (Jamaica) have already passed my restricted total. We need to get them out as quickly as possible and try and get what I consider to the best part of the wicket."

Barbados will be also keen to have a positive report from the medics on their experienced batsman Roland Holder, who spent most of the day in the pavilion with stomach problems. It was a second blow following the late withdrawal of Ryan Hinds with a groin problem.

The first two sessions were almost identical, each producing just over 70 runs, two wickets and missed catches of a similar nature in a similar position.

Between the start and lunch, the Jamaica casualties were Chris Gayle, last season's MVP, whose defensive prod was pierced by Corey Collymore, and Leon Garrick, spectacularly hauled in by Browne.

Garrick, however, gained a life when Holder, stationed at gully, failed to hold on to a difficult diving chance.

An nearr-carbon-copy occurred in the second session when left-hander Wayne Cuff benefited from Dave Marshall's inability to cling onto the ball in another tumbling effort in the same position.

Cuff, a slim left-hander who has never distinguished himself at regional level, made some use of the chance to reach a solid, if not spectacular, half-century.

He looked assured against Marshall's leg-spin, but every Barbadian on the field was certain he edged a catch to the keeper off the same bowler before he passed his previous best first-class score of 35.

By tea, he reached 59, but Barbados had managed to remove teenager Brenton Parchment and captain Robert Samuels during the pre-tea session.

Parchment, a West Indies youth team representative at the 2000 World Cup in Sri Lanka, was shaping well for his 23 when Bryan trapped him lbw for 23. It was the first of four successive dismissals in which the Jamaicans were guilty of playing across the line.

Samuels, too, was in no bother when he attempted to sweep Marshall and was a clear lbw victim ten minutes short of the tea break, which was taken at 149 for four.

Within the first 45 minutes on resumption, Barbados took a slight advantage by claiming the wickets of Cuff and Gareth Breese.

Cuff, who made 65 from 136 balls, dragged an intended pull into his stumps off fast bowler Dayne Maynard and without addition Breese was lbw swinging across a Marshall full-toss.

Jamaica were then 161 for seven before Barbados lost their grip.

Browne missed another diving leg-chance before Nehemiah Perry scored the first of his 37 runs and Keith Hibbert, unbeaten on 32, was put down by Reifer when he was six.

© The Barbados Nation